In the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2007, Christopher Newsom and his girlfriend Channon Christian were carjacked and held captive in a house on Chipman Street in Knoxville. Both were raped, tortured and killed. Newsom's body was discovered in the vicinity that afternoon burning alongside railroad tracks. Christian's body was found stuffed in a trashcan inside the house a couple of days later. Five people were arrested in connection with the crime . Eric Boyd was convicted in federal court of aiding the alleged ringleader, Lemaricus Davidson, after the carjacking and murders and is serving an 18-year prison sentence. The first defendant to be tried in Knox County Criminal Court, Letalvis Cobbins, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in August 2009. His brother, Davidsion, was tried next and was sentenced to death by lethal injection in October 2009. In December 2009, George Thomas was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Vanessa Coleman was acquitted of first-degree murder in May in the deaths but was convicted of facilitating the death of Christian. She is awaiting sentencing on July 30.source
This is by far one of the worst UNDER REPORTED TRAGEDIES/CRIMES to date! It got little to no MSM coverage....WHY? It's a Black on White Crime that's why. PAY ATTENTION!
Didn't we all have the 'crime in WV to Megan Williams & Crystal Mangum and the Duke University rape that turned out to be false shoved down our throats. Both of these incidents involved black women who were later found to both be lying.
OK, here goes time to SCREAM about this again and again. As far as I'm concerned Megan Williams the Victim and Malik Shabazz don't even begin to know what a Hate Crime is. They need to look at and talk to Christian Channon and Chris Newsomes family who where Car Jacked, Beaten, Tortured, Raped, Set On Fire, Raped had Drain Cleaner dumped down C. Channons throat to kill any DNA evidence. Thats what I call A Hate Crime, but I forgot they called M Williams the N word that is by far worse then what these two White College Students experienced and what their families have to Live through. Where's the Justice!?! Sunday, November 4, 2007; Page A16 W.Va. Protesters Urge Hate Crimes Charges CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Hundreds of people gathered at West Virginia's Capitol on Saturday to urge prosecutors to add hate crime charges against six white people charged in the beating, torture and sexual assault of a 20-year-old black woman. Authorities say the accused, three men and three women, held the woman captive for days at a rural trailer -- sexually assaulting her, beating her and forcing her to eat feces. "Hate crimes are out of control in America," Malik Shabazz, a legal adviser to the woman and her family and a founder of Black Lawyers for Justice, told those gathered. "Nooses are being hung, and our women are being raped by white moms. What happened . . . was a hate crime, and we want this prosecuted as a hate crime." Shabazz staged the rally despite a request by the city's black ministerial association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People not to gather because it could harm the prosecution's case. Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham has not filed hate crime charges in the case, saying the other charges already filed carried harsher penalties.
My heart, thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Christian and Newsom families as they have since I first heard about this, a few months after this took place . You should not have to relive hearing, seeing the animals that took your beautiful children again. Over a pill popping judge, his criminal floozie dealer he was doing and some other alleged secret evidence.
If A Jury Of Their Peers Found Them Guilty, Who Cares About The Judge! Guilt is Guilt!!!!!!!!!!
* Baumgartner would leave the bench during judicial proceedings to get a drug fix.
| drug defendant Deena Castleman |
The woman accused of providing Judge Richard Baumgartner with drugs and sleeping with him in his chambers was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday.
* The judge had drug defendant Deena Castleman procure pills, had sex with her in his office, paid her bond, gave her money for her utility bill, spent time with her in Chattanooga during jury selection in the George Thomas case, and used his position to lie about Castleman's positive drug test.
* Baumgartner got hundreds of pills — hydrocodone, oxycodone, OxyContin — from multiple doctors dating to 2007.
* Baumgartner friends and colleagues, including assistant Jennifer Judy and District Attorney General Randy Nichols, tried to intervene, with no luck.
* Christopher Gibson, a defendant in Baumgartner's court, allowed the judge to use drugs in his home. Gibson referred to him as "JB." A witness said she saw the judge at Gibson's place about 100 times.
Source: Blackwood's recitation of TBI investigation
Poll: What is your reaction now that new trials have been granted for the four torture-slaying defendants?
Thanks for your vote.
| RESPONSE | PERCENT | VOTES | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angry | 46% | 1479 | |
| Betrayed | 15% | 480 | |
| I'm not surprised | 13% | 417 | |
| Sad | 11% | 379 | |
| Shocked | 10% | 349 | |
| I'm tired of hearing about this | 2% | 81 | |
| I don't care | 0% | 12 | |
| total votes: 3197 | |||
Just when you think things can't get any uglier, any seamier, any more sordid, we are forced back into the pit.
The most famous, not to mention painful, criminal testimony in recent Knoxville history is going to be reheard.
Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood made it official on Thursday, granting motions for new trials in the 2007 torture-rape-murder cases of Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom.
Meaning the visceral evidence that convicted Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman will be trotted onto public display once more.
All because former Knox County Criminal Court JudgeRichard Baumgartner, who presided over these sensational trials, was himself guilty.
Not of the crimes, per se. But guiltier than homemade sin, in local parlance, of a slew of procedural atrocities — not the least of which was being drunk or zapped on pain pills while sitting on the bench. He has since confessed to official misconduct and resigned.
Pinch me. This can't be real. Surely our community and the families and friends of the victims won't have to undergo this sick spectacle once more. In one sense, we're fortunate. This slashes through years of future legal maneuvering, bringing the inevitable that much closer. Because of Baumgartner's incredible mishandling of these cases, the earlier verdicts would be successfully appealed until new trials were eventually granted.
If you care to learn more about the events surrounding this horrific crime, please search through out the archives of to read more or by all means do a little research yourself on the Web . But never ever forget what happened on that fateful night of January 7, 2007 to this incredible 'White' couple that was brutalized by the savage hands of these blacks and all but ignored in the MSM.
I'm going to include a link to wonderful coverage mostly by Jamie Satterfield of knoxnews.com for starters, but there is so much more to learn out there.
